U.S. Stem Cell Ruling Invites Asian Competition

The ink had barely dried on last week’s U.S. court decision barring the National Institutes of Health from funding embryonic stem cell grants when I received this message from the second annual Stem Cells Asia Regenerative Medicine Congress, which meets in Seoul on October 26 through 28:

"Dear Jonathan Moreno,

—‰’Halt to U.S. Stem Cell Funding May Thwart Search for New Cures’ — Bloomberg News

"This is one of the most pertinent reasons why stakeholders of the stem cells arena are now moving to Asia to leverage on Asia’s laissez-faire regulations and capitalize on Asia’s growth potential in stem cell research and application."

And I was in fact quoted in that Bloomberg News story as follows:

"This is a catastrophe. "…It’s now possible that the United States is now taken out of embryonic stem cell research."